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What a versatile word–the word “wonder.” It’s a noun. A verb. An adjective as in “wonderful.” Unable to recall the original 7 wonders, I googled only to find that the list is not static and there are different categories. Man-made wonders. Natural wonders. Ancient wonders. Underwater wonders. Even a category for “Forgotten Wonders.” And the thing these “lists of wonders” have in common is that they are palpable. Visual. Identifiable as a place on this earth. And surely they are wonder full. But what about the others? Those wonders that can only be felt? Experienced? Observed? Wonders not linked to specific place?

So thinking about this, it occurred to me that it would be interesting to compile a new list. A different kind of list. A list without parameters of time and place. A list that embraces the experience of being human–and all that that implies. So I’m going to start it off with the wonder of Friendship.

one of the very very FEW things i have from my childhood is a collection of books called
The Book of Knowledge. a 20 volume set. inside the cover…the Children’s Encyclopedia
The Grolier Society Inc – New York the first copy right 1923 this particular batch, 1943.
2 years before i was born. so…judging from this, it was bought by my mother and father for my sister. who was 7 years older than i. i had yet to be conceived. but it was in the one small furniture book case in my childhood home. the only other “books” were Readers Digest Condensed.
anyway…volumes 1 through 20. in this particular one i pulled off the shelf just now, there
is The Book of Earth…Mountains and Glaciers, Forests, Woods and Deserts, Rivers and Seas.
The Book of Plant Life the Forage Plants,the Useful Vegetables
The Book of Animal Life Living Fossils The Kangaroos and Their Kin Animals that Lay Eggs
and on and on. The Book of Familiar Things, of Literature , the Story of Fine Arts , the Book of Men and Women, the Book of Golden Deeds on on on on
20 Volumes
but in each, was
the Book of Wonder.
this particular one: How can we see with our eyes shut? Is the leaf of a plant waterproff? Has an elephant a bone in it’s trunk? Why is there a stone inside a cherry? When did newspapers first begin? What are the doldrums? How does a gyroscope keep things right side up? and relentlessly, ON and ON. through 20 volumes.
i remember sitting on the livingroom floor and reading. reading. reading. it was my favorite section.
now, after living in the desert here with me for so many years, i open it to write this to you and it still
smells
just as it did then, just as it did 60 years ago….how can it keep it’s smell. its fragrance???? how can that fragrance bring back to me SO MUCH????? a lifetime of so MUCH?????
so…fragrance. the Sense of Smell. a wonder.
:

simply love the picture you’ve painted. i know that smell. that paper and what it has absorbed over the years. heat. rain. kitchen smells. dark rooms. sunlight. smell. the most primal of all our senses. the only nerve that goes STRAIGHT to the brain. Alz B might respond to some scent or other. and the book of wonders. i want one.

what a gift you’ve given me with this comment–these comments–the wonder of community, yes, and the wonder of finding Pearl S. Buck’s last manuscript. she was born in Hillsboro, WV –not too terribly far from where i lived–but only stayed there a few months. still, the old homeplace is now open to the public and i visited it once. i love her writing the same way i appreciate Willa Cather–so feel grateful to know that her last book will be coming out in October. a big thank you for visiting here!